Ferry, Jules

(1832-1893)

   statesman

   A premier of France, Jules-François-Camille Ferry, or Jules Ferry, as he is known, was born in Saint-Dié and began practicing law when he was 19. Extensive travel throughout Europe, however, led him to journalism. In various articles for Paris newspapers and in pamphlets, at first descriptive and anecdotal, he became increasingly political. Between 1868 and 1870, Ferry wrote a number of significant articles, including "Les Comptes fantastiques d'Haussmann," which sharply criticized napoléon ш and his imperial policies. when elected to the legislature, Ferry sat with the opposition in the last imperial chamber. Along with other republicans, he voiced his opposition in July 1870 to the war with Prussia. In the period after the franco-prussian war (1870-71), he became one of the leading figures among French republicans. In 1879, he entered the government as minister of education and, for the next six years, was almost continually in ministerial office. He served twice as premier: from September 1880 to November 1881, and from February 1883 to March 1885. His expansive colonial policy brought the opposition, especially of georges Clemenceau. Known for his educational reforms (free and secular primary and secondary schools, girls' secondary education), Ferry also was responsible for a broadening of civil liberties and for administrative reforms at the national and local levels. He also pursued an aggressive colonial policy (colonization of Madagascar, conquest of the lower Congo by pierre brazza, conquest of Tonkin, protectorate over Tunisia). Additionally, he served as prefect for the department of seine and as mayor of Paris, after the fall of the Empire (1870) and when the city was under siege (see commune, la).